Poet masks Israeli ID to win Arab prize

One name sticks out from the list of winners in the prestigious El Hizjra poetry competition intended for Dutch Arabs, which was announced last week -Tuvit Shlomi, press officer for Holland's largest Zionist group.
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Although the competition is intended for Arabs, it is open to anyone. Past winners include renowned Dutch authors such as Abdelkader Benali, Mohammed Benzakour, and Rashid Novaire.
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She is the daughter of a Jewish-Dutch mother and an Israeli father who immigrated to Holland. Her parents met in Israel after her mother immigrated here. The couple then moved to Holland to study and ended up staying. "Winning the competition is an opportunity for me to show that I'ma rooted in the Middle East just as much as the other applicants. That Israel is for me what Morocco is for them," said Shlomi, who had lived in Israel for a year, frequently visits the country and speaks fluent Hebrew.
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The pseudonym which Shlomi selected was Wallada bint al-Mustaqfi, an opinionated 11th century Arab-Andalucian poetess and proto-feminist who spurned the hijab, kept multiple lovers and embroidered fragments of her poetry onto her clothes. "Her message is something well-worth remembering, especially today," Shlomi said.

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